NASENI boss, Halilu honoured @UK for driving Africa’s industrial innovation - ITREALMS

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The Executive Vice Chairman/CEO of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), Mr. Khalil Suleiman Halilu, was honoured with the prestigious African Achievers Award at the 15th edition of the ceremony held at the historic House of Lords, UK Parliament, on July 11, 2025.

The award, presented during an event that brought together royals, global leaders, policymakers, and innovators, recognized Mr. Halilu’s outstanding contributions to advancing Africa’s technological infrastructure, innovation ecosystems, and industrial growth through his leadership at NASENI.

AVEVA hightlights benefits of industrial digital transformation @WEF 2023 - ITREALMS

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The Chief Executive Officer of AVEVA, Mr. Peter Herweck, has confirmed participation in the World Economic Forum 2023 (WEF 2023) in Davos, Switzerland, reports ITREALMS.

Herweck's participation is aligned to the promotion of a sustainable industrial digital transformation in support of a lower carbon, socially just world.

Powering Fourth Industrial Revolution in Nigeria - ITREALMS

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A KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY PROF. UMAR GARBA DANBATTA, EXECUTIVE VICE CHAIRMAN/CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, 
NIGERIAN COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (NCC), DELIVERED AT VIRTUAL 3RD DISCOURSE SERIES OF THE ADVOCAAT LAW PRACTICE HELD ON THURSDAY APRIL 29, 2021.

Introduction:

It gives me great pleasure to give this keynote address at the 3rd Discourse Series of the Advocaat Law Practice. I am pleased to note that the theme of this Discourse is “Powering the Fourth Industrial Revolution in Nigeria” – I believe that this theme is of immense importance at this stage of our national development, as it gives us an opportunity to assess ongoing efforts and refocus our energies as appropriate.

Elumelu tasks ACP countries to help youth accelerate industrial revolution - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

Governments across the Africa Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries have been tasked to help youth to be aware and accelerate drive to meet the challenges, capture and channel extraordinary opportunities through an industrial revolution across member countries, reports ITREALMS.

There are over 80 countries in the membership of ACP.

In a keynote address at the Africa Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Business Summit in Nairobi, Kenya on Sunday, the founder of Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) Mr Tony Elumelu gave this charge, urging everyone to take time to check out the TEF Connect and learn more about how individuals could contribute to socio-economic development through mentoring young and eager entrepreneurs.

He observed that talent was not hard to find in Africa, Caribbean and Pacific countries nor was dedication, ideas and discipline which are the components of entrepreneurial success.

“These brilliant ideas cannot exist in a vacuum and it is up to the governments across the developing world to help the growth of Small Medium- sized Enterprises (SMEs),” said Mr Elumelu.

He also said that the enabling environment was the backbone of success with industrialisation and wealth creation for ACP countries, noting that without enabling environment, the dream of industrialisation will be a fleeting illusion.

“We must streamline our bureaucracies, provide infrastructure and stable access to power,” he said, stressing that there was need to promote implementable policies that support industrialization than those hindering people.

“Power is critical, in Nigeria, where I come from, about $10 billion yearly is spent by people and businesses who provide power for themselves. Now, imagine if that money was spent on more productive activities,” he asked.

Insisting that “We cannot hope to industrialize if we do not fix the issue of power, if our entrepreneurs spend so much money to power their businesses, how then are they expected to make the investments necessary to upgrade and industrialize?”

He equally called for a self-honest introspection, emphasising that “if we do not tackle these issues, we will be unable to achieve industrialisation, wealth creation and poverty reduction.”

ACP youthful dividends, he advised, cannot be allowed to waste or can we exclude “our women from our development agenda.”

In addition, he commended the European Investment Bank, represented by Mr. Ambroise Fayolle, for its initiative SHE INVEST, focusing on mobilizing 1 billion Euros for women across Africa, through innovative digital solutions, financial products, climate responsiveness as well as capacity building.

“We at the Tony Elumelu Foundation strive to reach the same goals of uplifting women out of poverty and empowering them with knowledge and resources. This is an invitation to join forces as we have done with the UNDP to lift 100,000 young African boys and girls out of poverty and thereby stemming migration challenges.

“We must develop our industry, improve our knowledge base, the technical capacity of our people must be up scaled. Power and infrastructure are crucial to our success if we are to compete in an increasingly interconnected world with rapidly advancing technology,” he said.

Further, Mr. Elumelu said that there was need for the private sector, governments and policy makers, development partners to all work together through positive engagement to create the right environment and give hope to young ones so that their latent talent can be realised for the development of ACP countries and for peace in the world.

Asked if the Tony Elumelu Foundation will open up physical offices in the sub-region, the Chief Executive Officer of TEF, Ifenyinwa Ugochukwu alluded to efficacy of technology in helping to spread message beyond the nations.

Ugochukwu equally explained why the entrepreneurs do not receive the full $5000 USD grant, saying that the Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) with awardees stated that it would be $5,000 at the Central Bank of Nigeria foreign exchange rate of N306 Naira, lamenting that in Nigeria there are two parallel markets.

“You have the official rate and the black market rate subject to wild fluctuations and as a company that earns in Naira we could not expose ourselves to that which is why we had to peg the currency exchange with the Central Bank which is stable,” said Ugochukwu.

Pointing out that any disparity that the entrepreneurs see is in that exchange rate, just as she acknowledged that they have gotten information that in other countries by the time the entrepreneurs get the grant money which is changed back to their own national currencies there are some limitations.

*Brenda Zulu reporting from Nairobi, Kenya.

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Pix: Ifenyinwa Ugochukwu, CEO TEF.

GE, ALU launch Africa Industrial Internet programme

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The African Leadership University (ALU) and GE Africa have launched the ALU Africa Industrial Internet Programme, (AIIP), reports ITRealms.

The programme, powered by GE, ITRealms gathered combines the best of GE’s technical expertise with ALU’s unique learning model in a 12-month professional training programme that merges the essential business and technical skills necessary for African professionals to succeed in a digital industrial environment.

ITRealms also gathered that the programme begins in January 2018, to reemphasize GE’s position as the world’s premier digital industrial company.

The Director, Learning & Development, GE Africa, Roti Balogun, noted that in an increasingly connected industrial ecosystem, a staggering amount of data is being generated every moment.

He explained that the programme commonly termed ‘Industrial Internet’, involves connecting software, industrial applications and intelligent analytics to businesses, enabling unprecedented gains in productivity and innovation from these massive datasets.

“Leveraged effectively, this paradigm shift in industrial thinking will allow African companies to leapfrog competition and establish the continent as an industrial powerhouse. However, this requires a new generation of talent with a strong technical foundation in big-data analytics, machine learning and web application development, as well as the business acumen to translate technological improvements into business results,” he said.

The AIIP employs a blended learning model to participants with a mix of online learning and periodic 3-5 day in-person intensives to be held at the GE Africa Innovation Centre in Johannesburg. This approach provides flexibility to participants enabling them to learn from industry experts, and at the same time, immediately apply what they learn in the program in their daily jobs. The program includes hands-on training on artificial intelligence and machine learning with ALU’s unique entrepreneurial leadership program to prepare professionals for leadership roles entrepreneurial, technology driven work environments.

Participants, he said, will work with best-in-class technology including GE’s pioneer platform for the Industrial Internet – Predix, to build applications that could solve complex problems for industrial companies. Participants will be taught by industry practitioners who bring in years of experience in their fields.

“It’s an exciting period for us to take the lead in building digital industrial capabilities on the continent with this game-changing program. Our focus on the key recommendations from the World Economic Forum on the Future of Work, and this great partnership with the ALU, will no doubt continue to strengthen education systems with closer ties to industry across Africa. We remain committed to developing the next generation of leaders in this transformative digital age” Balogun said.

Equally for ALU Founder and CEO, Fred Swaniker, they are delighted to partner with GE to offer a programme that holistically prepares current and future professionals to harness the full potential of artificial intelligence in building their businesses, creating jobs and transforming lives.

“GE’s commitment to innovation and technology transfer in Africa resonates with ALU’s vision to harness technology and innovation to leapfrog Africa’s economic transformation,” Swaniker said.

Nonye Dom/GEE

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